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My Learning Networks

“Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.” (Siemens, 2004)

In reading about connectivism I find myself fascinated with how it describes the clear process that so many people take now when there is something they want to learn. In every day conversations, when a question arises that no one knows the answer to, inevitably someone will say, “Google it!” This is the world we now live in.

The assignment this week in my Learning Theories and Instruction course at Walden University was to create a mind map of my network connections. Basically, break down how you learn and from what nodes I gain knowledge. I tackled this assignment from the same aspect that I typically attach writing my goals on an annual basis; I looked at the same areas of life as I set my goals: career, education, health, social, financial and emotional/spiritual. In looking at each of the areas I then started asking myself, how do I learn and grow in my ability to meet me goals in these areas. The resulting mind map can be seen in this post.

As I created the mind map, and thought about how technology has changed the way I learn, I see how even in the past few months through my courses at Walden University, I have become more equipped to learn in a vast, ever-changing world. I have been in the ID field for the past 5 years, and I have learned more in the past 4 months than in the rest of this time. Why? Because I have been introduced to the world of connectivism through blogs, online journals, and other technological resources, like mind maps, that have changed the way I look at how I learn. I would say that I have found the use of blogs and conversations with other ID professionals, even through the posts in my courses, the most beneficial. Learning from others and their experiences and having constructive conversation around the topics that are affecting my career and education has allowed me to grow in both my knowledge level and skills needed to be the best I can be at what I do.

As I look at my personal learning network through my mind map, I have to agree that connectivism is a part of the learning scene now and that cannot be denied. One of the principles of connectivism is that “learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions” (Davis, Edmunds, & Bateman, 2008). I can see this in my mind map as I notice that I learn so much from others. I believe that having my opinion is important but when I hear from others through a variety of resources, their opinions are able to affect my own and sometime change them completely. Another principle is that “learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources” (Davis, Edmunds, & Bateman, 2008). My mind map is pretty extensive and clearly shows this principle of many nodes or information sources being used to learn.

The clearest principle I am able to see by looking at my mind map of my personal learning network is that “nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning” (Davis, Edmunds, & Bateman, 2008). If I did not have the connections that I have, my learning would not be able to grow as effectively as it would with them. The truth of the matter is that in this day and age, “the span of time between learning something new, being able to apply it, and finding that it is outdated and no longer useful continues to decrease” (Davis, Edmunds, & Bateman, 2008). So, not nurturing and maintaining connections would mean losing out on the new and improved ways of thinking and doing things. We must always be thinking and improving as instructional designers. Connectivism seems to give a clear picture of how we can do this.